Adley Rutschman just wanted to blend.
The first overall pick in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft just wanted to be one of the guys inside the Aberdeen IronBirds clubhouse and while on the field for batting practice prior to his first game with the Orioles' short-season Single-A affiliate.
He's going to keep trying. No matter how hard.
Rutschman walked past a team store at Ripken Stadium with his IronBirds jersey hanging in front of the window. Couldn't miss it. He was assigned No. 35, which the club held for him until today.
Media access was carefully orchestrated by members of the Orioles and Aberdeen public relations staff. Rutschman was made available on the concourse level around 4 p.m. and will be allowed to speak again after the game. Otherwise, the clubhouse was closed to the press in order to let the kid focus and relax.
And try to blend.
"When he just drove in, the players' parking lot's kind of blocked off. They're all waiting for him," said outfielder Dalton Hoiles, oldest son of former Orioles catcher Chris Hoiles.
"We all knew he was coming, so there was kind of a buzz in the room when he got there. He was the last one to get here and we're all just waiting for him to walk in. We heard the door open and saw if it was him. He walked in and he was pretty quiet. We all know who he is, but he's just trying not to be who we think he is. He's just trying to blend in as another player.
"As soon as he walked in, he just put his stuff in his locker and did everything we do in BP. He was just another player."
A player who won numerous honors at Oregon State University, including the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy, and was the Orioles' choice when they held the first pick for only the second time in franchise history. A player given an $8.1 million bonus that's the largest in history.
"We've been planning on it for a while but it's still, once it got here and having a player like Mr. Rutschman come in here, it's always a big thrill, and I know the players in that locker room are thrilled to have him," said Aberdeen manager Kevin Bradshaw. "And as a coaching staff, we're thrilled to see what he can bring to this ballclub. We've heard great things about him, so it's been a great day so far. It's lived up to the hype.
"I think he is handling it OK. It looks like he's a little tired. He's had to travel from Sarasota. He's had to do a lot of things in the last, probably, month. So, we're trying to make it easy, as easy on him as we can. I know you guys usually can go into the locker room and talk to the guys. We are kind of keeping that off-limits for him to have the space to relax in when he needs to and think about baseball."
Rutschman played five games in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, going 3-for-14 with a home run and an intentional walk. He's batting second tonight as the designated hitter and will catch Sunday afternoon.
Fans stood to applaud Rutschman as he walked to the plate in the first inning after Shayne Fontana's leadoff single. He took a pitch out of the strike zone from Hudson Valley starter Daiveyon Whittle and flied to shallow left field.
Rutschman batted again with runners on the corners and no outs in the third and struck out on three pitches.
Bradshaw will carefully dole out Rutschman's starts behind the plate.
"He'll probably catch three times a week," Bradshaw said. "Every other day, DH probably the other days, maybe play first one day. But he's going to have a day off in a week, so he's going to be busy, but we're not going to overuse him, by any means. But we've got to get him his at-bats."
Being the designated hitter tonight, in theory, would remove a little of the pressure.
"I think so," Bradshaw said. "I usually try when somebody new gets here to DH him first, just to try to get their feet wet in that role. He caught yesterday down in Sarasota, so he was scheduled to catch tonight, but they had some rainouts or something and that got pushed back, and that's why he's DHing tonight. But yeah, hopefully he'll get his feet wet and get four or five at-bats and be ready to catch tomorrow."
"I don't really think it matters at this point, you know?" Rutschman said. "I caught a couple games down in the GCL, so I'm just excited to play."
His long-awaited and overly hyped professional debut was pushed back after he came down with a mild case of mononucleosis, and his first appearance in Aberdeen was delayed because of Thursday's storm. Better weather would have gotten Rutschman here yesterday for batting practice and he'd be catching tonight.
"I'm really excited to get going," he said. "Just kind of rehabbing and what-not and getting to play now, it's exciting."
The GCL experience for Rutschman extended beyond taking his first professional swings and the home run hit in his third at-bat.
"It was a really good experience," he said. "Got to see the big league facility, hang around with a lot of the guys, meet the staff. It was a good time.
"Baseball's baseball, but it's going to be a little better atmosphere here."
The buzz he's created almost drowns out anything broadcast over the PA system.
"I think anytime you have the 1-1 pick in the draft they're going to bring fans to the ballpark," Bradshaw said. "This is a great baseball town. With the Ripkens, they do a great job here. Maybe they didn't have as much time as they wanted to to sell some tickets, but I think people will come out tonight just for him."
Bradshaw will try to make Rutschman comfortable while also introducing him to the next level of his professional life. Protect him but also expose him to everything that it entails.
"Yeah, it's all an adjustment," Bradshaw said. "Even the guys who come from the big-time college programs, they still have an adjustment period. The guys from Stanford (Kyle Stowers, Andrew Daschbach and Maverick Handley), they went through that little period and now they're getting their feet on the ground, so it's a developmental process that every player has to go through.
"We were all talking the other day, as coaches, you take a Division III guy like Toby (Welk) and he's adjusted pretty quickly. Some of them do and some of them don't and it takes a little longer. Our job is to keep their confidence up and tell them, 'Hey, it is a process.' Some of these guys might get it this year and some might get it next year, but it's fun to watch them go through this process."
Bradshaw is performing his own balancing act. Don't single out Rutschman too much while knowing exactly why he stands out. Don't bruise the feelings of teammates who have their own big league dreams and never draw this much press.
"You know what? You take it in stride," Bradshaw said.
"We have had so many moves in the last month and a half that we just take this one in stride. Even though he is bringing (the media) out, I think these other players have been playing pretty well. Toby Welk, I think he is still leading the league in hitting. I think they probably like the attention. I think they like having you guys around. So I think it's good. We're going to handle it just like we've handled ... We had eight moves the other day in one day, so we'll handle it the same way."
Orioles director of minor league operations Kent Qualls made the trip to Aberdeen today. Rutschman's parents arrived hours ahead of him, sitting in the seats behind home plate during batting practice.
"He may be a little less affected by it than I am, but growing up watching Cal Ripken and Ripken Stadium, that's a pretty big thing for me," said Randy Rutschman. "I'm sure that he's pretty excited and really pumped up. Hopefully not too pumped up. But I'm sure he's really excited to be here. Everybody on the West Coast is familiar with Cal Ripken. He's a legend.
"I haven't spent as much time around Adley the last month, but prior to that during the season with the attention, every week you're having people talk about it and he's having different people come down and interview him ... I thought he did a really good job on keeping focused on the team and what his job is at that time. I think he's probably doing the same thing now, just focus on trying to improve and get better."
Rutschman was in the first batting practice group, making consistent and solid contact from the left side of the plate. He chatted with a few of his new teammates and headed back indoors.
"I think he's really enjoying it," said Randy Rutschman. "After getting his body ready to go here finally, I think he's really excited. He's a super-big team guy and he likes that team camaraderie and I think he's excited to be with a group of guys now that travel together and ride a bus together. I think that's a big thing he's excited for."
"It's been a lot of fun," said Adley Rutschman. "You only get to go through this experience once, so I'm just trying to enjoy it right now."
The IronBirds already are making sure he doesn't feel like an outsider. That he can, in fact, blend with them.
Egos are left at the door.
Jerseys will still go on sale.
"I know a couple of the guys here, and every person I've met so far has been great and very welcoming," he said, "so I don't think there's going to be any problems as far as that goes."
Update: Rutschman went 0-for-5 with a strikeout in Aberdeen's 5-2 win over Hudson Valley.
Rutschman stranded eight runners. He bounced into force outs at second base in the fourth and sixth innings, with shortstop Greg Jones fielding the ball and stepping on the bag. He grounded to second base on the first pitch thrown to him in the eighth inning with IronBirds shortstop Luis Ortiz on second.
Ortiz, a fourth-rounder this year out of New Mexico State, was 4-for-4 with two RBIs.
Jake Lyons, selected in the 22nd round this year out of Oklahoma State, started for Aberdeen and tossed four scoreless and hitless innings with no walks, seven strikeouts and a hit batter. Morgan McSweeney, a 17th round pick out of Wake Forest, allowed an infield hit in three scoreless innings.
Rutschman on what he takes from this game: "Just excitement. It was a fun game to be a part of. Obviously, didn't get any hits today, didn't have the ABs I wanted to, but that's part of baseball."
Rutschman on his at-bats: "They get the Statcast and stuff after the game and what-not, so it's kind of cool to be able to look at that stuff and see what you're doing. But my focus right now is I just want to get in a groove again and get comfortable at the plate."
Rutschman on ovation: "It was exhilarating. I was kind of just enjoying it. Looking down at the ground for a second, maybe step out of the box, try to soak in every second of it."